


Follow Me Around The World

by fog_mind



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: AU, Cute Ending, Eremin - Freeform, Explorers AU, M/M, No Titans AU, Sadness, cute beginning, happy ending i swear, mentions of self harm, then I goes to poop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-15
Updated: 2014-08-15
Packaged: 2018-02-13 05:06:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2138067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fog_mind/pseuds/fog_mind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren and Armin have always dreamed of leaving the walls and exploring the unknown. They explore it together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Follow Me Around The World

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever Eremin fic! I hope you guys like it. I was listening to a playlist on 8Tracks called Take Me Out To Sea and that's where I got my inspiration from I guess.
> 
> Anyway, on with the fic!

The story of Eren Jaeger and Armin Arlert is a unique one. It is a tale of adventures into the unknown, it is a tale of deep seas and dark jungles, it is a tale of a bond so strong that the walls theirselves seem weak under it.

It is a tale of how two souls became one with the help of the beautiful unknown. The beautiful unknown being the world outside. The world outside the walls. The world outside the walls was something no one really knew of. It was said to be dangerous and scary. It was said to be full of bandits and thieves. It was said to be full of the unknown. Well that's what Armin's books told them.

Fortunately for these boys, their love for the unknown slowly out grew their fear of bandits and thieves. In all their time growing and flourishing under the walls protection, they had formed a bond that couldn't be shaken. A bond that couldn't be broken but anything. It grew throughout the years. 

The bond suffered pain, it suffered when Armin would return to Eren bruised and bloody. The bond had suffered loss when Eren's mother passed away, leaving Eren's druken father in charge of Eren and his sister, Mikasa. The bond suffered every time the boys shed tears for each other. The bond suffered terribly throughout the years, but that bond never broke. It didn't ever show signs of cracking, of breaking and crumbling between their fingers.

The bond grew in strength. The bond grew to something that couldn't be explained by anything other than true love. This love was in every book they shared together. This love was in every smile, every laugh they shared. Every touch, every embrace. Every warm feeling kept it burning brighter than ever before. It burnt brighter than the stars they watched. The bond was like the stars themselves. Something that looked so small at first but nice you looked closer, it was larger than life and burning too bright for your own eyes but it never phased the boys.

 

When they played together, they would play explorers. They would pretend they were far away from the walls. Far away from their worries and problems. Far away from everyone that didn't matter to them. They left their worries behind and pretended to head forward. They'd blow promises into the summer air and let the wind kiss them in return, as if sealing that promise. 

They'd sit beneath that oak tree in the field and tell each other that no matter what, they'd get out. They'd get out of these walls and go somewhere far away. Far away from people, far away from worries and problems. They only needed each other to happy. That's what they told each other. That kept them happy for their years until they thought that dream became nothing more than a dream. Time ticked on and their dreams and promises blessed by the warm summer air were blown away by the wind.

 

-*-*-*- 

 

As the boys grew older, the bond between them never wavered. It didn't waver through their school years. The bond didn't waver, yet it didn't grow all that much. Their years in highschool were difficult to say the least.

They found the names difficult. They found the pushing and shoving difficult. They found the little sly comments about themselves difficult. They found explaining to the council officer why they had been beaten up again difficult.

Eren found controlling is anger difficult. Armin found calming the boy down difficult.

Eren found being tripped in the halls difficult. Armin found being pushed and shoved out the way difficult.

Eren found watching Armin be hit again and again and again while he was held down, doing nothing by shout and curse at the monsters who dare hurt his Armin, difficult.

Armin found watching Eren trying his best not to cry when people laughed when he was tripped difficult.

Sometimes they boys would sit together in the school bathroom, just sit there and not talk for a while because they both knew how difficult it was for each other. Sometimes Armin would slip their hands together and just give his hand a gentle squeeze, telling him that it would be all okay. Even though they were both so far away from okay that it reminded Armin of when they watched the stars. Their well being seemed so small to some people but to them, it was like burning. The problem burned them from the inside, it was killing them but they couldn't call out because they both knew no one could hear them over all the things happening around them. Sometimes the problem of who was going to be the homecoming king out weighed the fact that some kids were being beaten until they cried out, being beaten until they couldn't take it anymore. They were stars. So small in the sky that they didn't matter anymore. People saw stars everyday, now they just seem boring, old, a waste of space. 

They used each other as coping devices. They knew how each other worked, that was the bond resurfacing in the ocean that was their problems.

Eren knew how to make Armin feel like he don't need to punish himself. Eren knew, because Eren had loved Armin ever since they made promises into the summer breeze. Eren could look at Armin and tell exactly what he was feeling because he had spent years of his life just watching him and seeing what made him smile. Eren made him smile. Eren's hugs made him smile. But this time? Eren's hugs made Armin release everything. His tears, his fears, his worries, his pain. Everything washed away after the tsunami of Armin. 

Armin knew how Eren worked. Armin just.. Knew that sort of stuff. He loved Eren as well, he had loved him the first time Eren asked him to play explorers with him in the heat of the summer, running through the dry grass with dirty hands and pink cheeks. All Eren needed was time. If you gave Eren time, he would be okay. Not the normal okay, their okay. Their level of okay. Their level of broken.

They found coping difficult. They found the loneliness difficult but when they saw each other, it all went away. But when they were together, it didn't seem so difficult. Happiness wasn't difficult when they were together. Being themselves wasn't so difficult with each other. Being with each other wasn't so hard after everything that they had been through. They had taken the beatings and the name calling on, they had stood up and asked why. Why did they get this? Why were they being treated like this? Eren refused to stop asking why. Armin had stopped asking why a long time ago. Soon they found out what stopped Eren asking why. Armin was beaten and Eren stopped asking. They didn't ask why when they saw each other being beaten. 

But the beatings didn't matter when they were together again. They were young and they had each other, what else really mattered? They were young and couldn't see how much they really loved each other. They only saw how much they meant to each other when the other had a blade against his wrist, bleeding into the cold tiles of the shower. 

They only saw how much they loved each other when Eren was screaming for Armin to stop. Screaming for him to trust him on the fact that they would be okay in the end. Armin couldn't wait for the end so the slash of silver went deeper into his soft, porcelain skin. 

The words slipped out. The "Please stop!"'s and then shortly after the "I love you!" They came out too fast and Eren spent hours kissing it into every inch of Armin's skin. Kissing every "I love you" into his cuts, into his lips, nose, cheeks, hair. Into his very soul. His beaten, bruised soul that still shone brighter than any star when Eren kissed him. Eren didn't let go of him that night. He held him tight against his chest and didn't let go as if he would lose some precious gem if he let go.

Armin was his very own precious gem. He was is sunshine infused gem that shone as of every stars light had been compressed into one person that Eren had the pleasure of keeping hold of. 

Things got better after that. They didn't care about the names, they had gotten used to them. Eren found his way of controlling his anger by punching a actual punching bag instead of an actual person. 

Armin relieved his own worries by writing them down in his little note book he carried. At the end of every day, he would let Eren read the book, he would let the boy he loved read his deepest fears and worries so he could kiss them all better for him. 

Armin's worries became nothing more than small drops in is ocean of his calm. He was calm when he was near Eren. Eren just had that effect on him. It soothed him to now that no matter what, Eren would be there for him.

As those words tumbled out of Eren's mouth, their bond became solid. Their bond was made of diamond with a star growing in the middle of it. The star shone and the diamond around it reflected all of its light for everyone to see it. It was a beautiful thing really. Some people say that Armin is the star and Eren is the diamond, but that's for them to decide really.

 

-*-*-*- 

 

Five years and six jobs later, Eren finally saved up for two horses. Armin had told him hundreds of times that you didn't need horses to travel, walking was just fine. But Eren had argued against it, mainly because he didn't want to walk all the way. They were leaving. They didn't know where they were going, they didn't when if they were coming back. All they knew was that they were gathering things they needed then they were gone.

Armin did feel slightly sad about leaving, his entire family were buried here. He would miss not being able to leave flowers at their graves but a part of him was telling him it's okay to move on.

Eren, on the other hand, couldn't wait to leave. He was sick of it here, same old roads and people. Same old assholes and bullies to shove them around. But not anymore. They would be free from the walls. Free from the cage they live in. They were finally completing their promise to the summer air. They were discovering the unknown. 

 

It only took them a few days to reach the ocean. A few long days of horse riding and cold nights, although it was spring, it was still cold at nights. Their blankets were thick enough so cuddling together for warmth proved a good idea. It was what they both wanted anyway.

Armin felt safe in Eren's arms and Eren felt safe holding Armin in his arms. It was like they were in perfect harmony who each other. 

When they got to the ocean, neither ran towards the water. They just stood and gaped at the scenery. It was too beautiful to even describe. After years of being kept in bland walls seeing something like this was unreal. 

It was close to sunset so the soft orange light cast rays over the crystal clear water. The waves kissed the shoreline as they washed in then came back out, but returning again to kiss at the golden sand between their toes. They sky was filled with different colours. Oranges, yellows, pinks, reds. It was like someone had spilt paint all over it and they had been left to mix together, creating something stunning.

Neither of the boys had words for the scene. Armin just reached over and linked their fingers together, slowly tugging Eren towards the water. They had taken their shoes off at the top of the beach, near the horses. Armin stood at the shoreline, letting the cool water wash over his feet, smiling up at Eren when it did so. This was what they had been dreaming of for their entire lives and reall, neither of them believed it was happening to them.

Suddenly, Eren burst out laughing as he rushed forward into the waves, dragging Armin with him. The water hit their bodies, soaking their clothes but neither boy really cared at this point. They spent a good hour just relaxing in the cool water, their aching bodies glad of soothing sensation it had on their muscles.

When Eren saw Armin yawn, he realised how late it actually was. He looked up to see the stars peeping out in the dark sky. Little diamonds amongst a field of soot. Eren brought Armin back to the shore and helped him take off his wet clothes. They both laid down on their blankets, free of clothes and worries. They spent the night so absorbed in each other, they didn't see the shower of stars rushing past their heads as they made love to each other under the night sky.

After years of being scared, they finally felt at peace with everything. With the sky, the stars, with each other. That night, their bond was stronger than ever.

 

-*-*-*- 

 

Over the years, they visited places the people back home could never have even imagined. They had seen sights people would kill for. They had travelled so far into the world, they didn't feel like ever going back. They wandered. They wandered from place to place, earning money helping out where they could, buying food to take on the road before they were at someplace new. 

They had been sailing on rivers that were so wide Eren thought they were lakes. They had been in jungles that looked dangerous but were full of life and new things to explore. They'd seen seas deeper than nothing they had ever imagined, they'd climbed mountains so high they felt higher than the Gods themselves. They had been under, over, in, out pretty much everywhere. 

They'd walked along the ice sheets of the North. They'd swam through the warm lakes and hot springs in the South. They'd run through jungles and lived in trees in the West. They'd made love under the stars and played on the beach in the East. 

The world didn't seem small now. Before they left, the wall was their world. Inside the wall was their universe but now. Now the world seemed so big that they had to explore it all. There was still so much they had to see. Still so much they had to learn, to discover about this world. They were both still young, Eren was turning twenty seven in March and be still looked the same person he was five years ago. 

Armin was turning twenty six in Novemeber but Eren still thought he looked twenty. His hair had grown out and most days he kept it in a ponytail or a loose bun to keep it out of the way. Eren usually enjoys himself plaiting his hair and sticking small, brightly coloured flowers into it. Eren thinks he looks beautiful. 

The summer breeze promise seemed like an old memory as they strolled through the wonders of the world hand in hand. Their bond didn't get much stronger after their night in the beach. They didn't need to make it any stronger because they both knew that it was the strongest the bond would ever be. Their love never faded, it never flickered, never wavered as they walked, ran, jumped through life hand in hand.

They'd done so much and when Armin brought up the idea of starting a family, Eren jumped into that idea with him. Whatever they did, they did together. So when they brought home a baby boy, they brought him up together.

They brought him up with stories of their adventures and when their little boy asked them if they were explorers, they would smile and the two men before the child would exchange a knowing look to say. 

 

"Yeah, me and your daddy are the best explorers in the world."


End file.
